Panel systems, particularly glass panel railing systems, are used in commercial spaces and homes, and frequently are desired due to an attractive appearance derived from transparent or translucent properties. They typically are used as guard rails at the edge of a physical drop, for traffic control or for partitioning of spaces. Known glass panel systems include vertical panels and a base shoe assembly. The bottom edges of the panel are installed in the base shoe while the top edges may support a top rail or handrail.
However, aligning panels so the panel system is plumb and level can be difficult. Panel systems often are installed on undulating surfaces. This is particularly common in outdoor installations, where surfaces may be uneven. In such cases, as the mounting surface changes in angle the glass tends to rotate, causing unsightly misalignment and deformities in the glass. This is particularly so in panel systems that lack top rail components. In addition, certain installment circumstances, such as an orchard railing or pony wall used as a windscreen, preclude the use of mechanical components at the top of the panel to maintain alignment.
Known flat panel alignment systems and methodology suffer from a number of disadvantages. One common solution is to insert long shim strips on both sides under the base shoe. However, this approach can be difficult because very slight shim thickness variations produce undesirable panel misalignment, and shim stack thicknesses will vary from the man side to the drop side of the guard rail. It is also time consuming to determine and insert the right type and number of shim strips effective to achieve vertical plumb. Even if the shim strips of the correct thickness are available, this does not always result in perfect alignment of the panel. Another mechanism entails use of a top cap component to align the panel. But forcing a misaligned large glass panel into a top cap is also difficult.
A further drawback of existing flat panel alignment systems is that the base shoe component can be very heavy, which may cause stress on the mounting substrate. This will contribute to the need for larger structural supporting members. Heavy components also may cause higher shipping costs as the overall weight of the shipped components drives up price.
Thus, there is a need for an architectural alignment system that is easy to use and achieves effective alignment of a panel system. More particularly, there is a need for an architectural alignment system that eliminates the need for difficult insertion of shim strips underneath the base shoe to achieve alignment of a panel system on uneven or irregular surfaces. There also exists a need for an architectural system having a lighter base shoe to reduce manufacturing and shipping costs and ease stress on the mounting substrate. Therefore, there is a need for an easy to use, lower weight architectural alignment system that achieves alignment of panel systems without the use of extra components requiring excessive force.